MetaChat - The Omnivore's Hundred

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03 September 2008

The Omnivore's Hundred The author describes this as "a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all."→[More:]

I got 38 out of a hundred.

Some of the things I've had: curried goat, black pudding, eel, sweetbreads, Hostess Fruit Pies, Jell-O shots, the humble PB&J and whole insects.

I find this list a little lacking. No meat pies. No stingray. No octopus on a stick . . . I know he had to end at a hundred but I think the guy was being a little too conservative.

What would you add to the list?

post by: jason's_planet at: 12:03 | 38 comments

I've had lots of those things. I don't get what makes that list definitive or representative.

I would add fresh-churned butter from raw milk to the list. Cajeta, too. mmmmm, cajeta.

posted by crush-onastick 03 September | 12:10

Currywurst sounds tasty. I haven't had Kobe beef yet, but I'm determined to before I die.

posted by jonmc 03 September | 12:19

PB&J? Is there anyone, other than peanut allergic people, who haven't eaten a million on those?

posted by octothorpe 03 September | 12:32

PB&J? Is there anyone, other than peanut allergic people, who haven't eaten a million on those?
Outside of the United States? There are one or two.

posted by Wolfdog 03 September | 12:32

PB&J? Is there anyone, other than peanut allergic people, who haven't eaten a million on those?

Me. For whatever reason, I always thought the combination of PB&J would be repulsive.

posted by DarkForest 03 September | 12:34

13. (I'm very unadventurous food-wise.)

posted by sperose 03 September | 12:37

I've had 57. No horse meat or Jello shots yet.

posted by octothorpe 03 September | 12:37

47. Some of that stuff I don't wanna. But I will advocate alligator and snake as being quite tasty.

posted by rainbaby 03 September | 12:47

A lot of the list seems pretty pedestrian to me and I don't think of myself as especially adventurous. I'm assuming that's because I'm in the US and the list is from the UK. A list full of foods that the British would think are everyday but USians would find exotic would be interesting.

I'm trying hard to imagine living in a world without PB&J but not succeeding.

posted by octothorpe 03 September | 13:01

octothorpe: some stuff on the list (Kobe Beef, foie gras, black truffles) is waaay out of most people's price range and thus a once in a lifetime treat.

posted by jonmc 03 September | 13:19

Mmmmmmm Hostess fruit pie.....

posted by BitterOldPunk 03 September | 13:20

jonmc, yea, I've never had any of those either but Bagels and lox?

posted by octothorpe 03 September | 13:27

21 for me.

posted by Prospero 03 September | 13:32

If you're not from the Eastern Seaboard or LA, it's exotic, just like, say, biscuits and gravy is exotic north of DC. There's still regional quirks in this country.

posted by jonmc 03 September | 13:32

I tally up somewhere around 53. I think I should be able to substitute brains for sweetbreads. True: I was able to check off both roadkill and snake courtesy of the same unfortunate (from the snake's point of view) incident.

posted by Wolfdog 03 September | 13:36

63 - I had some help from the conference where there was a party serving Kobe Beef meatballs. Some of them I won't eat under any circumstances (whiskey will come right back up, for example). Some I missed by species (I've eaten alligator but not crocodile) or closeness (I've had lassi, but not salted lassi).

I'd definitely add mango and sweet sticky rice.

posted by plinth 03 September | 13:42

Stephen Fry: What you call a biscuit is more like what we would call... I don't know, a kind of scone-y thing. You have "biscuits and gravy". Explain to the ladies and gentlemen what that is.

Dara O'Brian: O Traveler from an arcane land!

Rich Hall: Yeah. Biscuits are made from self-rising flour, and then they just slop gravy over it and it just takes up room on the plate.

Stephen: Right. And it's a breakfast-y thing, or... or a lunch-y thing, or...

Rich: It depends on what trailer park you live in. Sometimes it's three meals a day.

posted by Wolfdog 03 September | 13:44

49. Some it the things, I eat all the time.

posted by danf 03 September | 13:56

Ostrich heart. He forgot ostrich heart.

posted by Eideteker 03 September | 14:16

59, the less-common stuff of it more or less by accidents of the "here, try this, don't ask what's in it" variety. The rest I also seem to eat all the time.

It's a game of mine to bring home from each big grocery visit at least one thing I've never eaten. For some strange reason, usually this involves a new variety of cheese.

posted by notquitemaryann 03 September | 14:27

I'd eat lots on that list but not the shellfish.

posted by essexjan 03 September | 14:33

posted by TheophileEscargot 03 September | 14:34

But would you put this in your mouth?

posted by ethylene 03 September | 14:50

73, and I don't consider myself someone who goes out of the way to eat wacky foods.

posted by gaspode 03 September | 14:52

61 for me.

posted by stynxno 03 September | 15:06

eth: you have to ask?

posted by jonmc 03 September | 15:47

61 for me too, stynx.

posted by essexjan 03 September | 15:49

65, but I'm counting alligator as crocodile.

posted by mygothlaundry 03 September | 15:53

50 for me. I'd add wild boar, octopus, and rhubarb pie (which I've had) to the list, and also menudo (which I haven't).

posted by expialidocious 03 September | 17:29

My list. I didn't bother counting...probably somewhere in the 60-70s. I too counted gator as crocodile.

posted by casarkos 03 September | 17:40

and for the record, I've had 50.

posted by jonmc 03 September | 17:44

58 for me, if I can substitute vodka for gin in the dirty martini (I would add that it should be served mid-afternoon in a red vinyl horseshoe booth at Fox's in Miami, a place so dark it takes half the day for your eyes to adjust.

Candidates for the list: Pastrami on rye; matzo ball soup; risotto (was that on there?); gran marnier souffle; bakala; deepfried twinkie; babyback ribs; prosciutto; and I might change the PB & J to an Elvis (grilled peanut butter, banana, and bacon).

posted by Pips 03 September | 18:31

A few more: baked macaroni and cheese; chicken and dumplings; a hot fudge sundae; tongue.

God I'm hungry.

posted by Pips 03 September | 18:39

76, and like gaspode I don't go out of my way to eat wacky foods.

Like most of those lists, it's pretty arbitrary.

posted by tangerine 03 September | 19:43

Need more fingers for the official tally, but guessing near 60. Can I substitute Piranha for Fugu?

posted by Triode 04 September | 00:52

Erm, I borrowed some fingers and did the full count: 80, if I count kaopectate for 63, plus the fish swap. I'm also counting cacao pod straight off the tree for Criollo chocolate. I can't recall if I tried the Epoisses recently - our host brought out a variety of cheeses including that, and a collection of housegemacht brandy - ergo the uncertainty. Clearly, I need to get working on the offal.

posted by Triode 04 September | 01:16

Er, 90. And I've been vegetarian for 20 odd years. Australia is a lot more cosmopolitan regarding food than I'd previously thought, then!

posted by goo 04 September | 09:58

And what I missed out on I'll never eat, unless I start eating meat again (not outside the realms of imagination). Poutine (although I've had chips with cheese and gravy, just not cheese curd), lobster thermidore, Kobe beef. But kaolin? I might have got some in my mouth washing off a face mask, but blegh. Not yummy.

posted by goo 04 September | 10:04

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